Scorpions Humanity Tour: Sting in the tale

We'll never be(at) Bangalore at this. Went to the Scorpions show last night. Thoroughly enjoyed the music, despite knowing nothing more than the handful of ultra-famous hits. Never even know that Humanity: Hour 1 was out in Jan 2007. You know, the hits I mean, Still Loving You, Rock You Like a Hurricane and so forth. Absolutely gobsmacked by the sheer energy the band shows on the stage. And the drummer, James Kottak , is just superb! What a character.

It was very sweet of the organiser/sponsor to allow the Rs 1,000 guys come into the Rs 1,500 section soon after the show began... no point holding them back, since the back of the front-end was empty anyway.

And yes, as usual, saw some lovely snapshots.

• An old couple, grey hair and all, passionately singing along. They knew every single lyric. I think they even knew the extempore bits
  
  
• A mid-40s exec type with a bald pate and tie, air-guitaring endlessly, recklessly through all of the guitar solos with a blissful smile on this face, eyes screwed shut behind frameless glasses
  
  
• A young teen with long hair headbanging with the violent grace of a typhoon. Letting loose ear-splitting whistles between songs and for someone so young, obviously in love with the Scorpions and thrilled at hearing them live
  
  
• The faint smell of grass mingled with regular tobacco...
  
  
• A sea of camera-phones, from Rs 2000 entry-level phones to giant Blackberrys clicking away
  
  
• Another sea of cellphones, screens ablaze waving in place of the lighters, matchsticks and candles of yore
  
  
• The thrill of feeling the bass-end of a drum solo ruffling the fabric of your clothes and physically thumping your very being
  
  
• No rock mamas, at least not obnoxious ones
  
  
• Tens of cellphones held up, allowing many fans to vicariously listen in to the concert
  
  
• Rasta hat and Doors Tee at a Scorpions show?
  
  
• The bass guitar riffs played by Pawel Mąciwoda of Metallica numbers sounded ominous and great!
  

And just a word about Spaz & Brad (can't find any links... anyone know some? Post a comment, please), two young Bandra Boys with acoustic guitars who opened the show and absolutely rocked. When they walked on to the stage, I was sure they were going to get boo-ed of the stage. No such thing! They were damn, damn good. Good enough for me to keep an eye out for their next performance. Rock on dudes!

And another word about the two utterly superfluous Channel [V] 'personalities' who appeared to be playing the roles of comperes. Irritating. Useless. Got boo-ed off the stage repeatedly. And bad, well-used, rotten, humourless jokes too. Typical.

Do have a couple of bones to pick also, of course. The Scorpions show is a bit short. The band only started playing at 2020 hours, 20 minutes behind schedule, and we literally twiddled our thumbs for, like, forty minutes between Spaz/Brad and the big show. And by 2210, even the encores were done. Too short, I thought. Then again, the most expensive ticket was half the price of the Roger Waters show.

The sound wasn't all that great either. The first two singles you couldn't hear the vocals, which some sound guy fixed later on. But even afterwards, the speakers weren't fully clear. If you were at Roger Waters and heard the sound there, you'd instantly know the difference. If that one was a 9.5 on 10, Scorpions show sound would barely make a 7.

All in all, thoroughly, thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyable evening. Thanks to all the sponsors and organisers who made it possible. I want more. Between The Wife and I, we'd love to hear (in no particular order, and no reference to bands that aren't together anymore either), Guns N'Roses, Bon Jovi, Coldplay, Stereophonics, Robbie Williams, Santana, Metallica (ideally with the SF Symphony Orchestra), Sting... oh crap, that's an endless list, isn't it?

Related links

• Rocking! : Mekaal Hasan Band thrills Mumbai
• Mekaal Hasan Band: One more time!
• Roger Waters: Concert Review
• Roger Waters: Curtain Raiser
• Mekaal Hasan Band
• Mr Anderson!